


No room for mistakes tonight

by S_Nebulosa



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Gen, Lillian is not evil, Meet the Family, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Redemption
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:07:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21892645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/S_Nebulosa/pseuds/S_Nebulosa
Summary: For the first time in a long time, Lena goes back to the house she grew up in. And this time, she's also bringing her new girlfriend.
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Comments: 18
Kudos: 202
Collections: Supergirl Femslash Secret Santa 2019





	No room for mistakes tonight

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ekingston](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ekingston/gifts).



It has taken the whole day — the whole month really where she’d experimented with recipes and techniques and oven temperatures and times — to perfect tonight’s meal. Vibrant perfumes waft through the air and Lillian proudly takes in a deep breath. 

She has done everything in her power to make tonight perfect. She has put on the blouse she doesn’t much like but she knows Lena loves. Per Lena’s request, she has made sure the vegetables are seasoned well and come in a different variety. She has even made chocolate pecan pie because Lena mentioned it’s her girlfriend’s favourite. 

Gods. Lena’s girlfriend. 

Lillian can hardly believe her daughter is finally bringing someone home again. She hadn’t expected it to be a girl but if this is who makes her daughter happy, Lillian is fine with it. And she fully intends on showing it. She knows she’s made her fair share of mistakes in life, especially regarding Lena, and she’s determined to make up for them. Or at least show Lena she’s trying.

Nervously — though Lillian would never show it and looks calm and collected for any onlooker — Lillian waits for her daughter to arrive. 

Over time, family dinners have become smaller and smaller. First, her husband passed. Then her son got incarcerated. And for years, Lena had refused to show up. Not that Lillian can blame her. 

But she’s glad Lena has been willing to grant her another chance. Eating alone got dull really fast and she really missed her daughter. Her daughter, whom she never was allowed to show much love per Lionel’s request. And after his death it was just too hard to change anything about it. She was grieving and Lena reminded her both of all of his flaws as well as his best sides. 

Frankly, Lena is everything she could wish for in a daughter. Cunning, smart beyond compare, and, probably most importantly, compassionate. That is something Lillian would never be able to pass onto a child and it hurts. Not that she’d ever admit it but Lena is much better than any daughter, any child, of her could ever be. 

Lex did a great job proving that.

Lillian takes another deep drink from her _water_. Gods, does she wish she has hard liquor in her tumbler. But she cannot be inebriated when she meets Lena’s girlfriend. There’s zero room for mistakes tonight and getting the family’s alcohol problem into it clearly screams ‘huge mistake!’

Despite her preparedness, the sound of the doorbell still slightly startles Lillian. As she rises from her chair, she straightens her clothes and checks herself in the hallway mirror. Not a hair can be out of place. 

_No mistakes._

With as wide a smile as she can possibly manage, she opens the door. 

Lena looks gorgeous as ever. Lillian shouldn’t be jealous about it but still it makes something inside her twist. It’s pathetic. Lena is her daughter. She should only feel positive feelings. Proudness, love, awe. She squashes the bad down, deep down and forces herself to be happy for the way her daughter turned out.

“Good evening,” she greets as she lets her eyes drift over to the blonde next to her daughter. She has wavy hair and a kind face. Her smile shows innocence but also strength. Maybe she’s good enough for her Lena.

“Hello, mother,” Lena greets back stiffly, nodding her head a little. Lillian knows she doesn’t deserve more. She doesn’t even deserve Lena at all. So she will happily take whatever she can get, even stiff nods. 

Lillian steps to the side and pulls the door farther open so Lena and her girlfriend can come in. It’s too cold outside to do the introductions there.

“You must be Kara.” Lillian reaches her hand out to the blonde, now noting she must be taller than Lena because she’s not wearing any heels and still has the same height. 

“Nice to meet you,” Kara answers politely, rehearsed maybe. 

The hand Kara offers her is strong. A lot stronger than Lillian expected and she has to admit she’s slightly impressed with this woman already. 

“The pleasure is all mine,” Lillian says with a smooth smile. Etiquette is what she breathes. She has been raised to go far and has lived the high life long enough to know every rule, written and unwritten. “Can I take your coats?”

Normally the help would do that but Lena made her give everyone the day off. Thus now Lillian ends up being the one lugging Lena and Kara’s winter coats to the coat rack. She would never do this if it weren’t for Lena.

Oh, what has become of her. So desperate for contact with her daughter she does things so out of character. And yet, she knows this is something all the money in the world cannot help her make it go smoother. To her regret. Throwing money at problems is one of her best skills.

With her back turned to her guests, Lillian sighs deeply before plastering her smile back on her face. She turns around and invites everyone to the dining room. 

* * *

“So, Kara, what do you do for a living?” Lillian asks as she starts to top off their wine glasses. 

Dinner so far is a success, in Lillian’s opinion. No disasters have happened. She hasn’t had to roll her eyes yet. Or send Lena a sideways glance to make her behave. Lena hasn’t yelled yet. Or worse, cried. (Lena isn’t going through puberty anymore either, but that’s Lillian’s only reference.)

Kara is slightly less well-behaved than Lillian expected or wished for but that’s okay. Even Lillian can see the smile on Lena’s face whenever Kara does something— anything really. Even talk with a full mouth or use the wrong cutlery.

Lena is clearly in deep and Lillian is not about to mess any of this up.

“I’m a reporter,” Kara answers cheerfully.

Lillian’s blood runs cold and her hand freezes in motion. She has a rather bad track record with reporters. Bloodhounds, she usually calls them. Morally skewed people out to air other people’s private lives and secrets. 

Reporters are the ones who initially drove Lena away. Trying to frame her as an accomplice to Lex’s crimes. Harassing her everywhere she went. Making it impossible for Lena to be herself, to even so much as step out of the house. 

Not that Lillian fared much better but she was fine being locked inside. Lex is still her son after all. She is the one who raised him. She is as much to blame for his crimes as he is, even without her ever taking part in any of it. She’s guilty by association. 

“Ms. Luthor?”

With a start, Lillian realises her hand is still halfway across the table on its way to fill Lena’s glass and she quickly retracts it only to remember what exactly it is she was doing and move it back so she can top off Lena’s glass. 

“I’m very sorry, I’m afraid I was lost in thought for a moment.” Lillian already mentally hits herself in the head for acting this way.

Didn’t she reiterate to herself, ‘no mistakes!’ several times? Wasn’t she clear enough? And now here she is, making a complete and utter fool out of herself. What a disgrace. 

“That’s okay.” Kara smiles kindly at her and Lillian sends her a grateful nod in return. She doesn’t have to look at Lena to know she’s looking rather less friendly than Kara right now. 

_No more mistakes._

“What kind of reporter are you?” Lillian asks to try and pick up the conversation. That’s the best way to make anyone forget a mishap, in her experience.

“I work for CatCo. It’s not super hard-hitting journalism but I’ve been doing personal stories about inhabitants of National City. Give a face to the population. Tell unique stories. I actually met Lena when I wanted to write a story on her, did she tell you?”

“She did not.” Lillian’s interest is piqued. She hasn’t really been kept up-to-date on anything in Lena’s life and she is starving for any scrap of information she can get. 

“She didn’t?” Kara lovingly looks over at Lena and squeezes her hand under the table. Lillian knows she’s silently asking for permission to tell the story and Lena gives her a minute nod of approval. 

“So, I wanted to do a story on Lena for a while. A young, female CEO moving to National City with a Fortune 500 company. That’s something everyone wants to know more about. But she didn’t want to meet any reporters. I tried to bribe my way in but she wouldn’t have any of it. She just stopped replying to my emails and her assistant refused to answer my phone calls. 

“I didn’t really know how to get her to agree to an interview without crossing boundaries I shouldn’t cross. Like following her out or sneaking into L-Corp through the back. But then she just walked into CatCo one day and agreed on doing an interview. But she wanted to approve every single letter that got published. Of course I immediately agreed.

“Turns out, this one here—” again Kara sends Lena a sappy look and Lillian actually finds herself feeling happy for them— “had been reading all my interviews and stories in order to decide whether she’d let me interview her.”

Lillian nods silently, a smile on her face. It sounds exactly like the Lena she knows from when she was little. Wanting to know everything there is possibly to know about something and the outcome of it before agreeing to it. Meticulously planning everything, trying to have all the variables under control. Or at least be aware of which variables were exactly that — variable. And unpredictable. 

“You were very persistent, darling,” Lena pitches in. “And I could hardly say no to you after seeing those puppy eyes. You were very convincing.” Lena looks happy. Satisfied. Soft and untroubled. Her face is a stark contrast with when she last lived with Lillian.

“Yes and you knew about everything there is to know about me so I doubt you were unaware of the power of my puppy eyes,” Kara throws back. 

Lena sticks her tongue out at Kara and Kara laughs loudly. 

Lena laughs just as loudly in answer. 

It has been a long time since there has been genuine laughter inside the walls of Luthor manor. Lillian is painfully aware of it. She’s even more aware of the fact that it has been about equally long since she’s heard genuine laughter from her daughter. 

Lena had been very unhappy living with her and it only now dawns on Lillian how much so. Right now, Lena is happy and she’s such a different Lena from the one Lillian thought she knew. 

Sure, there are things the same. Lena isn’t an entirely different person all together. She still likes to plan out everything and have control over situations. But she’s also more free, more unrestrained. Happier. More herself. 

Lillian’s heart swells. It is a very unfamiliar feeling yet a very welcome one. 

She will gladly sit back and listen to her daughter and her girlfriend banter during dinner. Anything to see her daughter happy. Anything for Lena. 

No mistakes, Lillian tells herself again, is maybe not the best mantra to live by. Mistakes have brought her here and even if she would do things differently if she got to redo life, she wouldn’t change making mistakes. She would just make different ones. Mistakes pave the road to the future and not all mistakes are bad. (Most of hers regarding Lena are but the biggest was holding the bar at ‘no mistakes’ for Lena and expecting so much of a young girl who just lost her mother and just craved affection.)

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [tumblr](https://s-nebul0sa.tumblr.com)


End file.
